


Bridal Style

by Bubbles43296



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: (which isn't mentioned much apart from the occassional 'ow that hurts' and some blood), Fluff, M/M, Rhys don't let your adrenaline and feelings for your bro get in the way of you getting medical help, he's a mess, it's basically just fluff, seriously, thank you whoever you are!!!!, thanks for this go to the anon who sent me the prompt on tumblr, with a small addition of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:48:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8010730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubbles43296/pseuds/Bubbles43296
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang are on a job of sorts, and Rhys is entrusted with a solo part. Needless to say, all does not go as planned, but bros will always be there to support bros.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bridal Style

_Shit. Shit shit shititty shit shit shit._

Gunfire sounded from all corners of the camp, bullets ricocheting off of every possible surface, then proceeding to punch holes through the nearest person.

Rhys was currently hiding behind a stack of several crates, hoping beyond hope that someone would show up and save him from this stupid goddamned hellcamp. He would’ve been at least trying to fight off the bandits if not for the fact that his stun baton had fucking _run out of power._

_How the hell does that even happen? Shouldn’t they have some kind of portable power source or **something!**_

To add to the hopelessness of the situation, Loader Bot and anyone else who could do anything to help him was on _the other side_ of the _ten foot tall_ walls that encircled the camp, and there was absolutely _no way_ for them to get in without him pulling a switch that was on the _other side_ of the camp.

And he didn’t even have a shield.

A bullet unexpectedly hit very close to where Rhys was cowering, terrified, shocking him out of his fear induced paralysis and making him realise that _it would probably be a good idea to move somewhere else_.

He sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady the pounding of his heart, and prepare himself for the journey ahead of him (although it was decidedly less monumental than it seemed at the time). Then, he picked up the round lid of an ammo box that one of the bandits had tossed aside earlier, wielding it like an old fashioned shield, and moved.

Rhys was running as fast as he could to the switch, various assortments of barrels and fuel tanks exploding around him as they suffered from the terrible aim of the bandits. He made detours where he had to, almost colliding face first with psychos and nomads every so often, and yet miraculously avoiding every shot that flew in his direction.

Soon he was only 20 feet from the switch. 15 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet, 2 feet…

And then he was there. His hands were pushing down on the switch so fast that he could hardly remember doing it, and for a moment, he thought he would be safe.

Of _course_ , he had to jinx it.

The very next second, a bullet tore through one of his legs, sending him crashing down to the ground. Panicked, Rhys looked up to see the barrel of a gun in his face. _Oh god,_ he thought as the bandit’s finger slowly tightened on the trigger, almost in slow motion, _I’m gonna die._

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying (and failing) to fight the tears that were beginning to leak out of them, while he prepared himself for his last moments. His last moments. His last moments on Pandora. _Oh god, he was gonna leave behind everyone he loved and he would never have-_

_Bang!_

He gasped. _Wait a minute_. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, and the first thing they landed on was the body of the bandit who had been standing over him.

_I’m not dead._

“I’m not dead!” He yelled in a mixture of happiness and relief, “I’M NOT DEAD!”

“It’s a good thing too,” A voice rang out from behind him, “you know we’d all be lost without you.”

Rhys turned, craning his neck as far as he could so that he could see the owner of the voice, eventually making eye contact with Fiona.

“Hi.” He said meekly, slightly embarrassed by his earlier outburst, “Thanks for saving me.”

“That wasn’t me.” She said in reply, crossing her arms, “It was your buddy over there.” She nodded in the opposite direction, towards a figure that Rhys was having trouble making out at the moment. Then, they stepped into the light and he saw the most beautiful person he would ever see.

“Vaughn.” He breathed out, stunned by his friend’s apparent… transformation.

The accountant was holding a large shotgun, and was equipped like-well, he was equipped like a vault hunter, shields and all. His soft brown hair was tousled and rough, and the sunlight made a halo stand out around his head.

“Hi.” Vaughn said, voice wobbly.

There was a pause as both of them looked at one another, both glad to see the other.

“Right,” Fiona said after a while, dragging out the word, “Well, I am gonna see what those bandits left behind. Have fun catching up, you two.” Then, she walked away from them, and when she thought they were too far away to see her, she practically sprinted to the nearest loot container, hoping for a large stash of money.

Upon seeing this, Rhys chuckled slightly, before turning back to Vaughn. “Thanks.” He said, “For, uh, saving me.” He offered his friend a cheesy grin.

Vaughn looked down, a reciprocating smile growing on his flushed red face, and Rhys felt his heart begin to pound ceaselessly against his ribcage. “It’s nothing,” He told him, “just being a good friend, that’s all. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” Rhys said, ignoring the burning pain in his leg from earlier, “Are you?”

“Me? I’m-” Vaughn puffed out a small breath in exhilaration, “I’m _amazing_. That was _awesome_ , Rhys! These are the most exciting days of my entire life!”

Rhys smirked at that. Vaughn was really starting to get a taste for life threatening situations. He would’ve continued talking to his best friend, however, the bullet wound was starting to ache a lot as the adrenaline of before began to wear off, and he winced when he felt blood trickling from it.

“…Rhys? Are you sure you’re okay?” Vaughn asked, concern beginning to grow on his face, “You look kinda… pale.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Rhys huffed out through the growing pain.

“Okay, then,” Vaughn replied tentatively, “Can you stand on your own?”

The taller man paled at the very idea of the action, but he pushed himself up anyway. For a moment, he almost managed it, as well, but at the last second his leg gave way. He would’ve fallen to the ground again, were it not for Vaughn’s quick reflexes as he caught his friend.

“Shit, Rhys. What happened to your leg?”

“Oh, you know. Just kind of… got shot.”

Vaughn sighed. “You should’ve said.”

“You just would’ve worried.”

“And my friend getting shot isn’t a good reason for me to worry?”

Rhys looked down at his friend’s face, still concerned about his well being, and his heart pounded even harder, threatening to jump out of his chest.

Vaughn looked down at Rhys’ leg in worry, biting his lip. “Can you walk?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, let’s try it.”

Unfortunately, as soon as they took one small step together, Rhys started to fall again.

“I guess the answer to that question is a no.” Rhys smiled, trying to lighten the mood. God, he couldn’t bear the thought of Vaughn being worried in any way, what was _happening_?

“Okay,” Vaughn sighed regretfully, reaching down to Rhys’ legs, “But just so you know, this is only my second time so I have no idea how long I’ll be able to last.”

“Why, what’re you-”

Rhys didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence, instead ending in a panicked yelp as his friend slid his arm under his legs and lifted him up, bridal style.

_Holy shit_. He thought, mind going a mile a minute, _What is going on?_

“Wow, Vaughn, I didn’t realise just… how _much_ you’d worked out.”

“Well, hey, when you can do all your work from a single pair of glasses, you can get a lot of exercise done.”

They both chuckled, smiling at each other. For a moment, they just stood there, gazing into each other’s eyes.

“…So, um,” Vaughn coughed, ending the moment, “Anyway, we should probably get you back to the caravan. To fix your leg. Y’know, with a bullet wound and all…”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah.” Rhys quickly looked away, a hot feeling spreading across his cheeks. Was he _blushing?_

As they moved back to the entrance of the camp, Rhys went through what he had experienced when he was with Vaughn, trying to diagnose the cause of the symptoms.

Pounding heartbeat, nervousness, blushing, they all sounded a lot like… Oh. Oh no.

Rhys had a crush on his best friend.

_Shit._


End file.
